A federal safety agency, in an unprecedented move, is urging states to adopt bans on all non-emergency cellphone use by drivers. The recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board, an advisory and investigative agency, would apply to hands-free as well as hand-held devices. As The New York Times reports, that [...]
Can you safely talk on a cellphone — or for that matter, check your email or scroll through Google Maps — while driving? Well, of course you can. But those other folks with their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road are a public menace. Unfortunately, that [...]
Federal regulators have imposed a ban starting next month on the use of handheld cellphones by interstate truckers and bus drivers. The ban, intended to curb crashes due to distracted driving, falls short of a recommendation issued in September by the National Transportation Safety Board but opposed by the trucking [...]
Automakers lately have touted lots of new electronic options for their cars, including technology that lets drivers use voice commands and touch screens to make and receive calls and listen to their text messages. As FairWarning reported last month, though, many of those new gizmos worry safety advocates. They say [...]
Shoppers in the market for a new car can consider a dizzying array of electronic options. The possibilities include everything from video and fancy sound systems to safety features designed to help drivers avoid hazards. Yet among American consumers, safety options appear to be taking a back seat to the [...]
There's no serious dispute that texting while driving leads to crashes that get a lot of people hurt and killed. But, as The Associated Press reports, new research has found that the distraction of texting undermines the performance of drivers even more than previously thought. The study, by the Texas [...]
Federal safety authorities are dialing up efforts to eliminate cellphone use by truckers and other commercial drivers. The National Transportation Safety Board unanimously recommended on Tuesday banning the nation's 3.7 million commercial drivers from using cellphones on the road, except in emergency situations. As The Associated Press reports, the recommendation [...]
With cellphone use soaring among children globally, the results of a first-of-its-kind study may ease some concerns that the radio frequency waves emitted by cellphones are harmful to their developing and sensitive brains. A growing number of studies have found no conclusive link between cellphone use by adults and cancer [...]
The boating crash near Philadelphia last year that killed two Hungarian tourists has been blamed mainly on a tugboat officer who wasn't paying attention to safety because he was distracted by his cellphone and laptop computer. The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Deborah Hersman, called the July, 2010, [...]
Younger drivers are not only more likely to text or use a handheld phone while behind the wheel, but they also view those practices as less of a danger, according to a national survey conducted by Consumer Reports. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has called distracted driving a deadly epidemic. According [...]
Drivers caught talking on hand-held cellphones in New York State now face what are being described as the toughest penalties in the nation as part of a campaign against distracted driving. New York became the first state to prohibit drivers from using handheld cell phones in 2001, punishing violators with [...]
To fight distracted driving, cellular carriers are devising ways to block incoming calls and texts when a phone is in a moving car. T-Mobile is leading the way with its new DriveSmart service, available at $4.99 a month. The company says it is responding to requests from subscribers. “There are [...]
Careless driving and rude public behavior are common symptoms of the cell phone habit. Now, research in Denmark has gone farther, suggesting that wireless use by expectant mothers may cause their kids to act out. Children whose mothers regularly used cell phones while pregnant are more likely to display behavioral problems, according to the study in the Journal of [...]
Millions of cell phone users in California are being connected more reliably to emergency services when they make 911 calls, the Los Angeles Times reports. The number of emergency calls from wireless phones in California that were delayed or failed to go through has fallen from 42 percent, or 4.9 million [...]
Scientist and author Devra Davis, who in her 2007 work "The Secret History of the War on Cancer" took doctors and industry to task for playing down environmental factors behind the disease, is now zeroing in on the hazards of cell phones. The full title of her new book -- [...]